What is going on here? Secret meetings that Republicans cannot attend. Negotiations that we are not allowed to see.

Before President Obama was elected, he promised us, at least eight times, that all of this would be televised on C-SPAN for all to see and that he would have a transparent government. What happened to that promise?

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Neb., received millions in federal aid for their states in order to secure their votes on the health care bill.

Then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, “That’s what legislating is all about. It’s compromise.” No, it’s not, Senator! It is underhanded bribery that would be punished under other circumstances! If he was so proud of his compromises he would let the American people watch these proceedings.

Is this what has become of our government of the people, by the people and for the people? Corrupt politicians selling votes to the highest bidder? We deserve better. Remember these shenanigans when election time rolls around! It looks like the voters in Massachusetts already have.K. Schemmel/Colon

Grateful to all who are making animal rescue group work

Adopt a Friend for Life of SW Michigan would like to publicly thank our friends and community partners for their support and assistance.

We are a Paw Paw and Kalamazoo based animal rescue that serves all of southwest Michigan. We could not do what we do without the help and support of our community and it is greatly appreciated.

AFL is your hometown rescue and we send our most heartfelt thanks to all of you.

Abby Kidd and the wonderful staff at Paw Paw Vet Clinic selected us to be the recipient of the holiday donation drive in December and the response for donations was overwhelming. What a wonderful holiday gift to us!

We also want to thank the management and staff at the Copper Grille in Paw Paw, who worked with us on hosting our first annual “Breakfast with Santa” fundraiser.

When communities come together to work for a common cause, there is no limit to what we can accomplish. Thank you all for your continued support!

Richard Boston/Paw Paw

Leave wage and benefit reduction decisions at the local level

State Sen. Michael Bishop’s proposed state constitutional amendments decreasing salaries by 5 percent and requiring mandatory health care contributions of 20 percent by all public employees, demonstrates very limited thinking and a complete lack of concern for the thousands of individuals impacted. Granted, those employees with a moderate level of income could survive but what Bishop fails to consider is there are public employees who make little more than minimum wage.

Potential wage and benefit reduction decisions should be left at the local level, not determined by the state politicians. Hopefully, local officials care enough about their organizations and employees to make thoughtful decisions in the best interest of all.

Instead of looking at what they can take away from individual workers, state legislators should find ways of bringing in new and increased revenue.Don Edgerly/Richland

No lunch and it cost $118 to leave car for three minutes

Recently, I went to the McDonald’s restaurant on the corner of Rose Street and Kalamazoo Avenue to eat lunch. I wanted to get some documents from the Kalamazoo County building and read them as I ate inside.

There is a sign posted by McDonald’s that vehicles will be towed if patrons are caught leaving the premises. I was gone three minutes and arrived back to McDonald’s to see my vehicle being towed away. Three minutes!

It cost $118 to get my car. The documents from the Kalamazoo County building were clocked at 1:13 p.m. and the towing ticket was clocked at 1:14 p.m.

So there went my restful lunch reading documents. There was a gentleman from my church who was there and saw the whole episode. He helped me get to T & J and paid for my expenses. Thank God for people of faith.

I have heard that others have had the same experience as me.

Nancy Gordon/Portage

Race to the Top legislation encourages creation of charter schools

Thanks to state Sen. Wayne Kuipers, Ottawa County’s champion for charter and private schools, respect for true public education will diminish this year.

His recent Race to the Top legislation places total responsibility for student success and progress in public schools on teachers, principals and superintendents. Harsh punishment awaits failing schools, where large numbers of students do not graduate nor pass state assessment tests. Yet, no responsibility for student progress is placed on students nor on parents.

Reasonable people understand that students have a mind of their own and can choose to learn or not learn. Parents may provide a pro-education environment at home or be indifferent to a child’s academic development.

This school reform is all about putting the public control of education into private hands. For-profit charter schools enrich their owners when at-risk students fail.

Jo Bird/Holland

Church pays to have KDPS direct traffic after Sunday service

In response to the Jan. 21 letter about who foots the bill when police direct traffic at mega churches, allow me to offer a point of view from where I sit as the church administrator of Calvary Bible Church.

We do utilize the services of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety to conduct traffic control primarily in the interest of safety. Because Drake Road is a busy street and on most Sunday mornings we have several hundred cars exiting our parking lot, in addition to the normal traffic from the two apartment complexes, it makes sense to have a KDPS officer directing traffic.

I realize the inconvenience of being held up in traffic on Drake Road as cars from our church flow freely out of the parking lot. However, to minimize this inconvenience we use KDPS only at the end of our second worship service. Furthermore, it is not much more than 15 minutes that the officer is out there on Sunday mornings directing traffic.

As far as who pays for this service, Calvary Bible Church foots the entire cost. We have budgeted $5,000 this year for KDPS traffic control.

I do apologize for the inconvenience and hope there is some understanding as to our purpose for utilizing KDPS to direct traffic.

Dan Johnson/Calvary Bible Church, Kalamazoo

Medicare should be expanded to cover all Americans

It would appear that any health care reform bill will not have a public option, will have mandatory coverage for all and a restriction on buying drugs from out of the country or even government seeking bids to bargain for lower prices.

The mandatory portion will guarantee a huge pile of money for the insurance companies to divide up and by extension give more money to their lobbyists to buy more influence in Washington, D.C.

The people who can’t afford the insurance will be subsidized by the government. The last I looked, the government was funded by the taxpayers.

The no-bid for drugs and the requirement to buy in this country is inanity in itself. I have yet to hear of any Canadian buying his drugs in the United States for fear his drugs are unsafe.

As one who is on Medicare and with a medigap policy, I’ve never had it so good and I’m 77.

Medicare for all is the answer. The administrative machinery is in place, the medical profession is familiar with it and a minimum of adjustments would be needed.

Older people who keep insisting that their Medicare should not be altered are really talking about Medicare Advantage which more properly should be called insurance company Medicare, as they are the faction that insisted they could do a better job than the government, with more coverage and at better rates. If, as has been reported, for every dollar paid to premium 30 cents goes to executive bonuses, it is no wonder that Medicare Advantage is in need of cuts.